Medieval Christians were capable of imagining goddess-like beings that looked thoroughly pagan

RONALD HUTTON talks to Rhiannon Davies about his new book exploring four female deities who straddled the pagan and Christian worlds in the Middle Ages

- Rhiannon Davies

PROFILE

Ronald Hutton is professor of history at the University of Bristol and a leading expert in ancient and medieval paganism and magic. His books include The Witch: A History of Fear, From Ancient Times to the Present (Yale University Press, 2017) and Pagan Britain (Yale University Press, 2014)

PHOTOGRAPH BY JENI NOTT

Rhiannon Davies: Your new book, Queens of the Wild, explores four goddesses who evolved into hugely popular cultural figures in the Middle Ages. Can you introduce us to them?

Ronald Hutton: First up, there's the figure of Mother Nature, or Mother Earth, who's mostly discussed by elite writers in the Middle Ages. Then there's the exact opposite - a charismatic female figure whom I call the Lady of the Night, who is very much part of the popular imagination or experience. What she does, basically, is scoot around with a retinue of fellow spirits and favoured human beings. Sometimes she and her friends just party; sometimes they visit the houses of particular worthy people and bless them and have a feast there. But they restore all the food and drink that they take.

The third is the Fairy Queen, who is the female monarch of a fairy kingdom. And the final one is the Cailleach, who's specifically a Gaelic personality - she's Irish and from the Scottish Highlands and islands and the Isle of Man. The Cailleach is a tremendous spirit of the land and, in Scotland, of winter.

In the book you argue that, although these deities bear all the hallmarks of ancient pagan figures, looks can be deceiving. What exactly do you mean by that?